Pakistan’s Quetta Airport Under Attack. Blasts, Gunshots Heard [Breaking]
The Dawn in Pakistan is reporting that the Quetta airport in the city of Quetta, capital of the troubled Baluchistan province, is under attack. Armed men tried to enter the airport, which also houses an air force base known as the PAF Base Samungli, the report says.
So far, there is confirmation of one casualty from the incident, which happens to be one of the attackers. Several security personnel exchanging gunfire with the attackers have been injured. These individuals have been transported to the nearby Bolan Medical Complex where they are receiving treatment.
According to Sarfraz Bugti, the home minister of Baluchistan, there is little information about the perpetrators of the attack or their intentions. He added that security forces have managed to repel the attack and have cordoned off the areas around the airport. Roads leading to the airbase have been blocked as well.
According to eyewitness reports, there were seven to eight explosions heard from the city. It is yet to be ascertained if these were connected to the latest terrorist attack on Quetta Airport. They also said that gunshots were heard over the course of more than an hour.
At the time of this report, helicopters were doing aerial surveillance of the airport and surrounding regions.
A report by The Tribune in Pakistan adds that the attackers had fired two rockets into the air base at Quetta airport and that security personnel managed to kill two attackers. The report also puts the total number of attackers at six.
This attack at Quetta airport comes on the occasion of Pakistan’s 67th Independence Day.
Similar attacks on airports have taken place in Pakistan in recent months too. Back in June, the airport of Pakistan’s biggest city, Karachi, was attacked by gunmen on two separate occasions within a span of a few days. In the first attack, over 30 people lost their lives. In another attack, a plane landing at the Peshawar airport was fired upon by terrorists, killing a woman and narrowly missing the pilot.
[Image Via Wikimedia Commons]
